GONZALES {AP} Life in a small town was not what one same-sex couple had hoped for.

Wanda "Sonny" McDaniel and Sandy McGill say they left Gonzales because officials and residents have been insensitive to their efforts to try and stop their daughter from being the target of classmates who used homophobic slurs. But many town residents said the couple is blowing things out of proportion, the San Antonio Express-News reported in its Sunday editions.

In May and again in June, McDaniel, 45, demanded the Gonzales school board include a section on sexual orientation as a permanent part of the district's sensitivity training for employees and include sexual orientation in its permanent anti-harassment policy. The board took no action.

Fearing a violent backlash from its efforts, the couple decided two weeks ago to leave this rural courthouse town with a population of 6,527. The family is now in the Austin area and plans to move to Madison, Wis. McGill is a lifelong resident of Gonzales, which is 74 miles east of San Antonio.

"I never planned on becoming an activist," McDaniel said as she, McGill, 55, and her 12-yearold daughter packed their belongings into boxes on a recent afternoon. "The issue here is safe schools. If this is tolerated, are we going to tolerate slurs against Hispanics or blacks?"

Soon after the couple stood up for their daughter, the verbal abuse, the taunts and the stares from the town's residents began, McDaniel said.

An elderly woman, she said, walked up to her and called her a pervert while she shopped at a grocery store with her daughter. A retailer suddenly refused to honor her checks and would take only cash.

Townspeople, few of whom wanted their names used, said Gonzales may be socially conservative, but McDaniel's efforts on behalf of her daughter have barely been noticed.

"It's a bunch of malarkey. Nothing but Hollywood hype," said a woman who was having her hair set at a hair salon the couple has patronized.

Erwin Ckodre, superintendent of the Gonzales School District, said he took forceful steps to curb the campus taunts and that the couple's move is unnecessary.

Ckodre said he decided to add sexual orientation to the school district's diversity awareness training but that sexual orientation will not be included as a permanent part of the district's harassment policy.

The Washington, D.C., headquarters of Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, or PFLAG, is organizing a convoy to escort the family from Texas to Wisconsin. Dubbing it "The Trail of Fear," organizers hope to showcase the family to raise money for their new start and promote awareness of the difficulties gay and lesbian couples with children face.

The Rev. Jim Rigby, pastor of St. Andrews Presbyterian Church in Austin, has assisted the family in securing a "safe space" until they leave for Wisconsin.

"When I was contacted by them they sounded helpless, like leaves being blown in the wind," Rigby said. "When one community disenfranchises lesbians, gays or anyone that is different than them, it makes them nonhuman and open to violence."